EOS becomes Vaulta: Why cryptocurrency decided to rebrand

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EOS becomes Vaulta

Market reaction to the rebrand

As the rebrand date approaches, EOS’s price has started to rise. On May 8, the cryptocurrency’s price jumped 22% to $0.84, while its market cap exceeded $1.2 billion, fueled by a 285% surge in trading volume, which reached nearly $500 million in 24 hours.

There has also been excitement in the derivatives market, with open interest in EOS futures rising by 45% to over $188 million. However, this is still far from EOS’s all-time highs in 2018, when the token briefly reached nearly $19.

Fluctuations in the EOS price. Source: CoinMarketCap.

How it all started

EOS was launched in 2017 by Block.one, founded by entrepreneurs Brendan Blumer and Dan Larimer. The project gained attention for its ambitious goal of building a high-performance blockchain for decentralized applications (dApps) with instant transactions and zero fees.

EOS raised around $4 billion in one of the largest ICOs in crypto history, attracting both institutional and retail investors. In June 2018, the project launched its own blockchain — EOSIO (or EOS Mainnet) — transitioning from an ERC-20 token on Ethereum to an independent network built on its own blockchain protocol.

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In 2019, Block.one announced Voice, a decentralized social media platform built on EOS, aimed at promoting transparency and user engagement. Despite the hype, the project failed to gain traction and was ultimately shut down.

Why EOS lost its momentum

In its early days, EOS was frequently ranked as one of the most promising cryptocurrencies. China’s CCID placed EOS at the top of its monthly rankings for several years, even ahead of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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Experts praised EOS for its scalability, transaction speed, and potential for mass adoption. Some even labeled it the "Ethereum killer." However, things started to change.

Despite the strong start, EOS fell out of the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap over the years. The project failed to deliver on its promises and lost support from developers and institutional backers. A major blow came in early 2021, when co-founder Dan Larimer left the project, shaking confidence in its future. Soon after, the EOS Network Foundation filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Block.one, accusing the company of failing to support the ecosystem and betraying the community’s interests.

The situation worsened when Tether discontinued support for EOS in 2023, removing a key liquidity component from the network. Developer activity declined, user numbers dropped, and a lack of major projects and DeFi growth pushed EOS further to the margins of the crypto market.

Will rebranding help?

Rebranding EOS as Vaulta appears to be an attempt to breathe new life into a project that has struggled for relevance in recent years. Focusing on Web3 banking and integrating traditional finance could, in theory, attract institutional partners and investors. Recent spikes in spot and derivatives market activity show that there’s still some interest in the project, suggesting the team has a chance to reboot its ecosystem.

However, a rebrand alone is not enough to restore EOS to its former glory. Changing the name does not solve the fundamental issues, such as lost trust after Larimer’s departure, failed initiatives like Voice, and legal disputes with Block.one. Without true technological breakthroughs and meaningful market demand, Vaulta risks repeating EOS’s decline. Whether the team can deliver more than just a new name and attractive staking yields remains to be seen.

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